An endoluminal procedure is a medical procedure that takes place in one of the many lumens within the human body. An endoluminal procedure may take place in vascular, gastrointestinal, or air exchange lumens, and may involve disease diagnosis, or treatment, or both. Millions of endoluminal procedures are performed each year in hospitals around the world.
Endoluminal procedures are often performed utilizing a device known as an endoscope. With reference to FIG. 1, an endoscope 140 is a tube, either rigid or flexible, which is introduced into the body lumen 180 through an opening in the human body 185, such as the mouth or rectum. The endoscope may simply be used to hold open the lumen for examination or it can and usually will contain an open or “working” channel 130 into which the Endoscopist will insert and withdraw a myriad of endoluminal devices. Lights, visionary systems, and other devices may be incorporated into or used in conjunction with the endoscope to assist in completing the endoluminal procedure.
A treatment device that is commonly used during the completion of endoluminal procedures is a catheter. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the catheter 170 is essentially a flexible hollow tube. Often the catheter is fitted with a hypodermic needle 120 fitted to its distal end for the injection of therapeutic or diagnostic agents. In certain applications, where therapeutic drugs are to be passed into the body lumen 180, the catheter 170 will accept, or be manufactured with, a syringe 150 at its proximal end. The syringe 150 can be pre-filled with a therapeutic drug 195 or it can be filled at some other time, for example, contemporaneous with the endoluminal procedure being performed.
The endoscope 140 will be positioned to allow access to the treatment area 110. Then, as required, the Endoscopist will position the distal end of the catheter through the endoscope into the treatment area 110. The positioning of the catheter is often a difficult and time-consuming process as it must be done by the Endoscopist from the proximal end of the endoscope, which may be a hundred or more centimeters from the treatment area. Once the catheter is positioned drugs can be administered or some other procedure can be performed. Administering the drugs can be an arduous task due to the tremendous pressure required to be applied to the handle 165 to force the drug out of the syringe 150, through the entire length of the catheter 170 and ultimately out the hypodermic needle 120. This is particularly true when the therapeutic drug to be administered is highly viscous.
This method is highly inefficient as the entire internal channel 190 of the catheter 170 must be filled with the drug before even a small amount can be forced into the treatment area 110. Moreover, since the entire internal channel 190 of the catheter 170 will be filled with the drug, a large amount of the drug is simply disposed of, along with the catheter, at the completion of the procedure. This unwanted disposal of therapeutic drugs can be expensive and can add significant cost to the procedure.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus that can accurately deliver a therapeutic drug to an endoluminal treatment site both efficiently and with a minimum of effort and waste.